A Second Indiana Prosecutor Is Out of a Job for Unusual Advice to Wisconsin Governor

Indiana prosecutors are apparently eager to advise Wisconsin’s governor about how to deal with pro-labor activists, and it’s costing them their jobs.

First, it was deputy attorney general Jeffrey Cox, who was fired after suggesting in a tweet that Gov. Scott Walker should “use live ammunition” against protesters.

Now it’s Carlos Lam, a deputy prosecutor in Johnson County who resigned Thursday after suggesting in an email that the governor fake an attack on himself to garner sympathy. The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism broke the story after examining tens of thousands of emails obtained through a open records lawsuit. The Associated Press and the Indianapolis Star also covered the developments.

Lam wrote in his Feb. 19 email to the governor that the situation in Wisconsin presented “a good opportunity for what’s called a ‘false flag’ operation.”

“If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions’ cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the unions,” he wrote.

At first, Lam maintained that someone had hacked into his email account. “I am flabbergasted and would never advocate for something like this,” he initially told the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

Early Thursday morning, Lam called Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper, admitted he sent the email and resigned, according to a press release (PDF posted by Wisconsin Watch).